Warde Manuel saw Sherrone Moore as a head coach after Penn State game

Sherrone Moore will coach his first game as the official head coach at Michigan on Saturday when the Wolverines take on Fresno State. However, this won’t be the first time Moore has been the head man in charge on the Michigan sideline.

Moore was the head coach for four games last year when Jim Harbaugh was suspended, including a November matchup against Penn State.

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The Wolverines earned a 24-15 victory that afternoon as Michigan AD Warde Manuel became convinced that Sherrone Moore was ready to be a head coach.

“You know, you don’t often get an opportunity to watch somebody perform in a role, and because of the circumstances, I had the opportunity to watch him on the sidelines as the acting head coach for four games,” Warde Manuel recently told The Michigan Insider. “And I was impressed with what and how he managed and handled the team, handled the challenges that were thrust upon him, particularly in the Penn State game.”

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Michigan fell behind 3-0 through the first quarter, before really grabbing control of the game in the second and third quarters. The Wolverines took a 24-9 lead at one point in the fourth, before cruising to the victory.

There was a ton of pressure on Moore and Michigan that day, and the Wolverines handled it with no issues.

“The way that he was able to lead the team and organize everything and put the game plan together under all of that pressure that was on him and the team, it was just impressive,” Manuel said.

Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had previously told Manuel that he thought Sherrone Moore would be an excellent head coach when he moved on. Following the win over Penn State, Manuel agreed.

“Jim had talked to me before about thinking Sherrone could replace him. And I’m not a coach-in-waiting type of person, but it was after the Penn State game that I said to Jim, ‘I see what you see now. I see what you see in him. And I really do have an appreciation for what he’s doing and how he’s handling himself’ and those kinds of things,” Manuel recalled.

Manuel has been very impressed with Sherrone Moore thus far since taking over the program and expects him to continue to thrive when the season officially gets underway on Saturday.

Manuel has no doubt that Moore is the right person to lead the program.

“Jim really talked about him early on and like I said, after the Penn State game, I did see it. And Sherrone is doing an excellent job,” Manuel said. “I’ve been in meetings with him with the team, with the staff. I’ve seen how he operates on the field during practice. We’ve seen him in four games as the head coach. Now we get to see him as not the acting head coach but THE head coach. So I’m excited for him and his family and I’m excited for the team.”